 Every year at CES, I love to stop by the Shure booth to see the latest and cool new consumer microphones and headphones. Laura Davidson, lead retail market development specialist at Shure is my favorite person to explain them to us. Always stop by our booth. We couldn't do it in person this year, but we're still gonna have Ron. So welcome back to the show, Laura. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me. All right, so I was super excited during PEPCOM when I got to see the latest consumer microphone that you guys have come out with. And I think it solves all of the right problems or well, the problems aren't right, but it's the right solution to the problems we have in home office microphones. Can you tell us about it? Yes, absolutely. So we showed off the new MV5C, and that's something that we launched back in October, but we specifically launched it for people who are working from home because the MV5, its predecessor, which actually still exists, is specifically used for music and podcasting. MV5C stands for home conferencing. So this is a mic that is going to eliminate the background sounds, the sounds coming in from up above, poorly treated rooms, the rooms that we're all sitting in. And what it's really made to do is let you be heard as opposed to relying on the onboard mic of your computer or laptop. So a lot of USB microphones replace your internal microphone but talk to me more about what it's doing with the room sounds. Yeah, so it has voice isolation, basically. So what it's doing is focusing the microphone or the microphone itself is focused on specifically speech applications. So it's going to reject any sounds coming in from the rear and the sides and really focus on the voice. And it's actually specifically made for speech. Oh, okay, fantastic. So not so much for trucks driving by and fire engines and dogs barking, more for speech. Yeah, so it's made for speech, but it will block out those things like dogs barking and fire engines driving by just in the inherent design of the mic because it is a condenser microphone with a cardioid pattern. So a nice tight pattern and rejects things coming in from other surfaces of the mic. Whereas your laptop mic is more of an omnidirectional mic. So omni meaning all, it's going to pick up everything. Right, right. So for those who don't know about what cardioid mics mean, if you think about the shape of a heart that you draw as a Valentine that's got the little dip on the front, on the top of it, that's the side away from your voice where basically no sound gets in and then as you come around to the front, you get the most sound coming in, correct? That's right. And cardioid coming from cardio and hence the heart-shaped pattern. So yes. Yeah, yeah. So describe what it looks like for us. You can show it to the video audience but describe it too if you would to the, because I think you got it right there. I do, I have it right in front of me in the shot for those of you playing along at home. It is a small ball-shaped microphone. It has a USB port on the back for plugging out and into your devices, into your computer specifically and it has a headphone jack on the back, which I love because if you wanted to monitor in real time, you can plug in a set of headphones, hear yourself talking as well as the person you're talking to, which is key. So that's a really cool feature. And it's not- You actually can monitor your voice. You can, yeah. And it comes disabled, which is actually better for those of you who are not audio people. If you wanna just plug in a microphone and know you're gonna sound great and then keep listening on your speakers that you're accustomed to, like your laptop speakers, you don't have to do anything. Plug in the mic, it's gonna take over the mic and sound awesome. But if you're like me and you wanna hear yourself, hear how you're sounding, hear how the other person's sounding, that's where those headphones come into play and you just push and hold the mode button when you're powering up the mic and then you can access that headphone option. Oh, that's fantastic. So I use a Shure MVI USB interface. Awesome. What a workhorse. I've been trying to move to Thunderbolt, but I've just gone back to the Shure MVI because this thing just always works. It's so easy. Yes. And it's got the headphone jack on the back. So I wish everybody monitored their own voice so that they could tell that, A, they're muted, right? Yes. If you can't hear your voice, you're muted or be there's some other extraneous sound that you don't realize is going on. Yes, exactly. Okay. That's like my daughter's Zoom call, which is happening in the other room, which hopefully you can't hear because of the MV5C. Oh, are you actually using the MV5C right now? I am. I am. Oh, wow. That sounds fantastic. Thank you. I've noticed another thing when people are using internal microphones, there tends to be more problems with, well, the microphones are not full duplex. So people when they start to talk, they're still audio coming out of the speakers and going back into the mic. And you miss what people are saying as a result. Yeah, especially when you use something like Zoom where they have these great features built in called echo cancellation, you know, which are made to make people's lives easier if they know nothing about audio, but they can, yeah, cause some cancellation of themselves by just the nature of the beast. Your voice is going through the speakers, coming out of the speakers, cancelling itself out, feeding back, vice versa. So yeah, so having that external mic, we're really just, we can't emphasize enough how important it is to take that step. Right, right. So can you demonstrate for us, you did it during PEPCOM, what it sounds like going through, you're on a MacBook Pro, is that correct? I am, yes. And supposedly the MacBook Pro, the newer ones anyway, are supposed to have studio quality microphones, which are, to be fair, they're the best microphones I've ever heard on a laptop. Yes. But compare that to this, the Shure MVI is only $99, right? We're not talking about a $500 microphone. Exactly. The MV5C is $99 right out of the box. It sounds great as opposed to this, which is my MacBook Pro. You can hear my mouse now. It's all clanky. If I had to, you know, click on the computer itself, you're hearing all the things, the reverberance of the room. If my HVAC, which is right here was on, you'd be hearing that. As opposed to this, which is the MV5C. And so you have less noise, less handling, you know, you're just, you're much more focused. Your sound is much more focused. Yeah. It sounds richer overall. It sounds, there's depth to your voice. Your voice was kind of blending into the background with the echoing of the room. Right. And it's also, I think a lot of people think, well, why would I need to do that? It's not just for your benefit. It's for the benefit of the people who are on those millions of Zoom calls with you every day because it's really fatiguing to listen to somebody whose voice sounds watery, underwater, garbled, et cetera. So do your friends a favor, do your coworkers a favor, do your spouse or your partner a favor if you're screaming across the dining room hoping that your colleagues can hear you. They probably can't get an external mic. That's true life story for my neighbor. That's why he was shouting across the dining room. Maybe I, you really want to buy this for your friends and family. Yes. You really do. Because you're the one who has to listen to it. It's funny you should use that exact phrase because right as you were about, started that sentence, I was going to talk about Dr. Father, or Father Roderick does podcasting. And I remember many years ago, like 10 years ago, he said, bad audio is fatiguing. It is. He said exact word that you said it's, you ever tune into a podcast and the levels are off or there's some noise in the background and you just, you feel exhausted trying to, you have to expend effort trying to hear. And that's not, if your message getting across is what you really want. So having a better microphone makes a big difference. It does. You mentioned USB. I saw on the, at the Shure website that this comes with the USB C cables, or USB cables, USB C and USB A. Yes, correct. And then what is the interface into the mic itself? It's micro USB. Micro USB. Okay. So you're still going to make us figure out which way to turn that connector. I know, I know. But we wanted to get this out in a timely manner because it was so relevant right now. So that's why we were able to pivot so quickly and create the MV5C from the existing MV5. Otherwise we'd have to retool it. So, yes, it's micro. Now it also comes in, it's in its own stand, correct? It is, yeah. So it has this cool stand. This is how it goes. So it's a metal circle with kind of an arc coming up. It looks futuristic. I like it. Yeah, thank you. And so you can also screw it into, I don't have one handy, but something like a Manfrotto Pixie tripod stand. Okay, so it's got a quarter 20 screw on it. Correct. So you could put it at any height. Yeah, and you can also sit it directly on the desktop. It's got a little flat spot, so it will sit. As long as you don't have a cat to come knock it over. Yeah, the cat would definitely think it's a fun toy. Yeah, so that's, we're not responsible for that. Exactly, exactly. Now you guys also have some noise canceling, Bluetooth noise canceling headphones you wanted to talk about. Yeah, we do. So these are the Aonic 50s. And this is the new color variant. So we have them in brown and black and now this awesome white color, which I'm kind of obsessed with. They are noise canceling, Bluetooth. And what I like about them is this tactile touch control. For those of you not able to see me, there's a switch that you actually use your finger on. So you're not swiping or tapping or hoping something's actually working. You feel it when A and C is turned on. And as well as your control buttons for your volume and activating the voice assist, it gives you 20 hours of battery life, folds flat and has the nice little marks on the inside so you can see which ear to put it on. So there's no guesswork there. And they just sound incredible. I mean, anything we make sounds great, but these are, I love them, I'm obsessed. Very nice. They look big and soft and squishy and the headband looks soft and squishy. Yeah, they do look big, but on my, that was to scale for those playing along at home. But yeah, they're really, really comfy to wear for long periods of time because we make headphones for mastering and mixing applications. We know that comfort is so important. And because these are for people who are traveling and listening to music at their own leisure, we want it to be a nice experience all around. Sound great and feel great. I personally choose my headphones based on how they feel, not on how they sound. That is my number one critique. Cause if I'm going to be wearing them for four or five hours a day while I'm working then I need them to feel good. That is the number one thing. Doesn't matter how good they sound, if they feel bad. The second criteria is how they sound. That makes sense, yeah. Do they come with a case? They do, hold on a second. I have one right here. Not that we're mocking Apple at all there, okay? Yes, they come with a case, which is a little big but I love it because it just slides right in. My backpack, it's thin. So I like that. Okay, so it's thin, but it's, now hold it back towards your head. It looks like it's the size of a dinner plate but it's more, a little bigger than your head. It is, it is big. It is a larger size, but here it is with the headphones, the black headphones inside and comes with a cable. Sorry for the zip or the velcro. You don't have to pay $30 extra for the cable. That's weird. You don't, I know, imagine that. So yeah, you're charging cable and yeah, you're listening cable so you can listen to it wired. Should you so desire? All right, great. And how much is the Ionic 50 Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones? They are $399. $399. So right in this price point? Well, we had a price drop so actually I'm going to confirm. Don't quote me on that yet. Let's do some editing. It's exciting. I know, but wait. Yeah, I know. Well, for the holidays we did and it was very exciting because they're awesome and we want everyone to experience them but I just don't wanna give you the wrong advice. Ooh, I see 349 on your website. That's it, that's right. So they started $399 at CES last year. They are 349. I just wanted to make sure so. All right, that's great. So if you plug them in wired then you would be able to use them for podcasting. For actually listening to a Zoom call you wouldn't get that lag that you get with Bluetooth. Correct, yes. Oh, and they have communication on them too so you can take calls but yeah, for podcasting there is that inherent latency of Bluetooth but it hasn't been too bad. I use them on calls during the day I don't feel like listening to my speakers anymore. Right, it's just if you're monitoring yourself that you'll go insane. Yes, you will with the little latency, yeah. Right, right. So you said for taking calls you don't mean there isn't a built-in mic on them, is there? There is, yes. Oh, there is. Oh, okay. Of course, yes. So you can take calls right there. All right, well cool. Yeah. This is fantastic. I love the stuff it's sure. I always love what you guys have and I appreciate you coming on the show. If people want to find out more about the Shure products they go to. Sure.com, S-H-U-R-E.com. All right, well thank you so much Laura. This has been fantastic. I'm excited. I'm especially excited about that microphone. I'm feeling I'm gonna stocking stuff for that bad boy to everybody I know. I did, my father-in-law got one this year. So two thumbs up. Thank you for having me. All right, hopefully see you in person next year. Definitely.